Background: In the Netherlands a program on quality assurance in medical care has started in 1996. Clinical professionals, patient organizations and health services researchers formulate evidence based guidelines with a concomitant cost-effectiveness analysis.
Objectives: To examine the cost-effectiveness of guideline recommendations for prevention of nephropathy in diabetes mellitus type 1 and 2.
Research design: A semi-Markov compartment model was developed. Data from international publications on epidemiological surveys and randomized trials, together with national data on health care use and costs, were used to feed the model. A cohort of diabetes patients without renal disease enters the model.
Measures: Complication (end-stage renal disease) free years, QALY's, and life-time medical costs per patient treated according to guideline recommendations or current anti-diabetic strategy.
Results: Guideline treatment for type 1 diabetes yields 4.2 complication free life years, at a cost-effectiveness ratio of 13 500 (Dutch guilders) NLG per QALY. Type 2 diabetes patients gain 0.2 complication free life years at a cost-effectiveness ratio of 31 000 NLG per QALY.
Conclusion: Guideline development for diabetes nephropathy, with concomitant cost-effectiveness calculations, has resulted in a transparent guideline with explicit information on long-term cost and effects. The project has brought health care providers and health services researchers together.